CHRISTMAS EVE 2025
FR. JERRY THOMPSON
ST. JAMES’ CHURCH, FREMONT, NE
Merry Christmas to you all!
I’m glad you have joined us in this primary purpose of the holiday, which is worshipping Christ, the Lord of life, as the church marks his incarnation.
The gospel reading we just heard is the one traditionally read for Christmas Eve. This year I am struck by the line that tells us, “Mary treasured all these words, “and she pondered them in her heart.”
What are the words Mary is pondering I her heart?
These words come to her from shepherds, poor workers without much money or power or prestige in their society. These are the people to whom God chooses to send these angels.
Their message? “I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: “to you is born this day a Savior, the Lord.” To you, the angels say. To you who are the least and. not the greatest.
Where will you find this Savior? “You’ll find him wrapped in bands of cloth “and lying in a manger in Bethlehem.”
Not in some royal palace, filled with gold. No, in a manger, designed for animals to eat out of. If you want to hang out with God, don’t seek palaces of gold; look instead for those in need of good news.
You’ll find this Savior and Lord of all people in a stable, vulnerable to the forces of the world, alongside his poor and vulnerable parents, alongside animals, other creatures of God, with the presence of God filling them all – especially this small child, vulnerable to the forces of the world. The loving forces. And the evil forces. As all of us are ulnerable,
to both good and bad, in particular the poor and those marginalized by society.
What is sometimes missed in this gospel message is its overwhelming political significance. Luke sets it up that way quite deliberately. At the beginning of the passage,
he deliberately mentions the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, and then Luke goes on to contrast Augustus with Jesus, God’s true anointed one, God’s true Savior and Lord.
You see, Augustus called himself Savior of the World and Lord of the world. Luke reminds us that he is not. God alone saves and reigns the world, just as God does in Jesus. He is the true Savior and the only Lord of creation.
Luke deliberately contrasts political leaders of this world, who can claim way more for themselves than they should - Luke deliberately contrasts them with Jesus Christ, who comes into this world as the only source of wholeness in the face of the brokenness with which we human beings live.
Political leaders do not save us; they did not save us at the time of Jesus’ birth, nor do they save us today.
No matter how grandly they might think of themselves, they are just human beings; they are not God and they will never be more than they are.
In fact, some act far less than the human beings they are, as exhibited by the way they use the power entrusted to them, by the way they choose to hurt people rather than to serve them, to serve them as Jesus does, to serve them as Jesus calls us to do with our neighbor.
That’s all part of what Luke is proclaiming in this gospel passage. It is profoundly political in nature, as the good news of Jesus is profoundly political. That is part of the truth we have inherited as Christians. Politics is about how we treat one another, and Jesus has an enormous amount to say about how we treat our fellow human beings.
Luke continues the contrast he has established with the angels and the heavenly host
proclaiming God and saying together, “Glory to God and peace among those whom God favors!”
The Roman state promised peace as well, The Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. This peace was imposed by the state on those who disagreed with the state. It was not a peace that arose organically, not a peace lived into by choice.
It was a lack of conflict imposed by the might of the Roman state, imposed by force as the state crushed opposition to it with fear. Perhaps that sounds familiar to you ion this Christmas Eve as well.
Luke deliberately wants to contrast a lack of conflict created by fear and force with the peace that comes from God, a peace that arises from love of God and neighbor within the human breast, expressed by the way we treat our neighbors. A peace that arises from being vulnerable to one another, like Jesus; the vulnerability of Jesus, in the womb and in the tomb, in the manger and on the cross. A peace that arises not out of force but out of love.
To these shepherds, people who had nothing to gain from Roman rule except fear, all this was indeed words of good news. Those most vulnerable in this world are embraced by God, are one with God, are loved by God are cared for by God.
And God calls the rest of us to stand with them as God himself does. Because ultimately, we all are them, We all are vulnerable and in need of God’s love, in need of one another’s love, whether we realize it or not.
That’s an inherent part of the gospel message, the message that comes to us with the birth of Jesus Christ: that promise, that peace that arises from God being with us, in whatever hill or valley we find ourselves.
That message is for everyone, not just for the powerful; in fact, it might least be for the powerful.
It is good news for everybody – when new realize just how weak we actually are, just how much we are in need of the merciful love of God in Jesus Christ.
It’s no surprise that the angels are sent by God to shepherds, because they were among those who could most easily receive the message that God proclaims to the world this night. They have less to give up, less to let go of, less investment in the systems that exist; indeed, they are among those who suffer from them the most.
Because they have so little investment in those systems, it is easier for them to receive this great gift of God.
It is we who are more deeply invested who are more greatly challenged to receive the gift God wants to give us, the gift God longs to give us. It is we who struggle more to open our hearts to God and one another, each day, including on this great feast of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.
These are the words Mary ponders in her heart. Mary treasures all these words brought to her, their meaning, their significance in her life, and their significance in the life of this world.
She ponders this news in her heart, where if we are wise, where if we are faithful, we all will ponder these words, too.
We will ponder them this night, on this great feast of the incarnation of God, and on every day that God gives us breath.
In some way, as Mary holds Jesus in her arms, she must know where his life would lead him, would lead her, and will lead all of us who attach ourselves to the true Savior and Lord of the world, as we die to self, and live ever more deeply to God. And as we call a broken world to do the same.
But Mary also knows something else, and because she knows it, because she trusts more in God than in the powers of this world, she clings to her faith - her trust that God will prevail over the forces of evil in this world.
That’s what enables Mary to do her part, her faith in God, just as our trust enables us to do our part, and to make the sacrifices we are called to make as followers of Jesus, the Savior and Lord of the world.
That Savior is the one Mary and Joseph welcome this night; the one the angels and the shepherds welcome this night; the one we welcome this night; the one we receive into our hearts; the one to whom we promise our faith and our lives; the one and only one
in whom we have hope in the darkness - hope for all the tomorrows to come, in this life and beyond this life; the one who truly is Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God.
So let us join the shepherds this night, as they glorify and praise God for all they hear and see.
And let us join Mary, too, as she holds Jesus close, and as she ponders in her heart the good news she has heard.
Let us join her not just this night but during all the nights to come; let us hold the one who is truly the hope for our broken world, the one who truly is the source of peace,
the only source of light in the darkness in which we live.
And let us faithfully be part of Christ’s great light shining in the darkness.
Amen.
There was no sermon given on December 28th. Christmas hymns were sung.